A New Tomorrow: Universe (Frontiers Records)
Formed by ex-Power Quest & Arthemis vocalist/guitarist Alessio Garavello, Andrea Lonardi (bass) and Tim Hall (drums) in London in 2009, adding Michael Kew (guitars) later. A New Tomorrow return with their debut full length having released 2 EP's before. Those expecting the power metal or thrash of Garavello's other bands will be surprised to hear that A New Tomorrow are a slick well honed hard rock machine that are influenced by Alter Bridge, The Foos and Metallica (Black Album onwards). Universe has been crafted by years on the road through all the good and bad times making melodic riff driven music, built around the brilliant vocals of Garavello and the hook filled hard rock they bring, Universe is an album of sing along numbers made for rock radio.
Now this is where the problem is as they do sound a little too much like Alter Bridge, musically and vocally, to say that they are influenced by the American megaband, at times A New Tomorrow sound like a pastiche, bordering on a tribute at times. Take a song like Golden Sands, it's got layered acoustics underneath everything, the AB backing vocals and slows things down with some added drama similar to much of ABIII. There's nothing wrong with how A New Tomorrow go about this record, the songs are as good as anything Alter Bridge is currently releasing, it's just they sound so much like Tremonti and co that they limit themselves any expansion of their fan base...still Alter Bridge are bloody massive so maybe I'm being cynical. 7/10
Power Theory: Force Of The Will (Pure Steel Records)
So in the power metal/heavy metal genre, there are distinct differences between the European style and the American style, while the Euro sound has lots of keys/gallops and shrieking vocals the US bands have heavier riffs and lower register singing. For an easier comparison see the obvious differences between Stratovarius and Iced Earth who were both formed around the same time. Power Theory are American and they stick to the US style of power metal, full of thrashy riffs, heavy rhythm sections and bellowed vocals the Pennsylvania five piece have been around since 2007, with Force Of Will being their fourth album. It's the first with new vocalist Jim Rutherford who took the mic in 2018, The Force Of Will has an epic feel to it from the intro track that segues into the blasting title track this is heads down heavy riffs from moment one the classic heavy metal style getting those fists pumping.
Power Theory share a lot of similarities with their countrymen Iced Earth, in the vocals chiefly but also with the muscular riffage. They bring a bit more modernity with If Forever Ends Today which sounds a little like Disturbed, though they ramp up the metal savagery on Mountain Of Death, the album does slow with almost cinematic Albion (though there is a little bit of irony as an American band play a song about Albion). Albion sits in the middle of the record as a great split between side 1 and side 2, which kicks off with the Th13teen which is a brilliant battle metal anthem and the rampaging Spitting Fire. In fact it's the second half of this album where the heaviness really increases until the grandiose finale of The Hill I Die On. Force Of Will is an excellent fourth album from these US Power Metal stalwarts. 8/10
SL Theory: Cipher (Self Released)
"Sturm–Liouville theory is the theory of a real second-order linear differential equation of the form where y is a function of the free variable x" complicated Maths, not the most entertaining way to open an album review but the music of SL Theory is equally as complicated but much more accessible. Formed by multi-instrumentalist Sotiris Lagonikas who has amassed a now 8-piece band for this band who play heavy prog band with AOR touches. This is their third studio album and their first after a live release that captured their spectacular audio-visual shows. On this record Lagonikas has shown you immediately what they are about with a 13 minute first track that could have come off a Kansas album as the AOR singalongs are wrapped around numerous time and tempo changes. Although the band are lot heavier than Kansas with their heavy riffs nodding to numerous Mike Portnoy releases, especially Transatlantic, so it must be soemthing about drummers.
Like with Portnoy's projects this album too has hints of Queen, The Beatles and of course Pink Floyd (what prog band doesn't). You Never Happened is a more direct rocker as Devil's Suites brings some Toto level shimmer, mainly due to the smooth vocal style of Mike Karasoulis, who is ably backed by Margarita Papadimitriou and Anna T. TaRba, the girls bringing some harmony vocals, for those tracks perfect for Miami night cruising. I could go on ad-nauseum about the styles on this record but really all you need to know is that there's an ideal balance between sunny AOR rocking and progressive mastery as the rest of the band; Alex Flouros (guitars), Giannis Nigdelis (guitars), Chris Kollias (bass) and Manos Gavalas (keyboards), are all as virtuosic as their band leader. Clearly picked for their prowess they are equally adept to rock tracks such as Grave Danger as they are with the dramatic double ballad of If It Wasn't For You/Anyone, Anymore. Now these two tracks do kill a little of the atmosphere but Anyone, Anymore is still a brooding number, with down-tuned guitars it's the second longest song on the record but better for it. Cipher is an enigma of an album, full of musical dexterity and great songwriting, for some it may peter out towards the end, though they will miss Happy the blistering funk rocker that sits at the end of the record, along with an alternative version of If You Saw Me Dead. An accomplished, progressive rock album. 8/10
Cursed Sun: Vendetta (Sudden Strike Records)
It's probably fate that I was listening to this EP from Cursed Sun on the anniversary of Dimebag's death as it's got the same power groove that Pantera had in the early days, as thick riffs beatdown while the lead guitar flourishes fire up in the background on Replicant, as well as face melting solo towards the end. There's also the aggression of Lamb Of God due to the barked vocals and pit ready riffage that comes across on these four tracks. Vendetta is the bands fifth EP following on from four previous EPs and a full length album, Cursed Son are one of the longest running bands on the Northern Irish metal scene, they've been carrying the flame since 2007 which is no easy feat in the current disposable music market where the underground is all but ignored by major publications. Still they have battled on with very aggressive style of metal that brings thrash, death and groove together, but it's nothing haphazard here the songs are written by an experience band built for live arenas, with progressive flourishes that lead to changes of pace especially on Crawlspace which slows in its middle section adding some melody to the metallic assault, while Fallen City has a stripped back beginning and big breakdown to it. The strength of this EP is probably why Cursed Sun are still surviving 10 years plus into their career, let's have some South Wales shows please guys! 8/10
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